Hi Tess,

I'm a member of IVAA, have the CRESS and Ethics Check certifications and I also happen to be a volunteer in the IVAA education department so I can chime in on this one.

First of all, on the membership, I think the money I pay for the IVAA membership is money well spent. I enjoy belonging to one of the largest VA organizations out there, it's officers and many of it's members are very well respected in our industry, and their website and listserv has a wealth of information. A major plus for me is that I get a lot of referring traffic to my website from being in the IVAA directory.

Regarding the certifications, some misconceptions that people may have is that the IVAA certifications have some sort of class or training associated with them, and that is not the case. The IVAA CRESS, Ethics Check, and CVA certifications involve exams that are more of a way to test and identify that you are proficient in the specific skillsets or areas to be certified by the IVAA. Passing the exams are a great accomplishment and you can show potential clients and prospects that you know what your doing by displaying the certified logos, plus it is promoted with your profile in the IVAA directory as well.

That's just my 2 cents for today. Feel free to contact the education department over there if you have any more questions.

Megan Barber

P.S. I forgot to add that non-members can also take the certification exams at IVAA as well, non-member price is just a little higher.